Following the Finn Nationals, which took place at the Aeolians Club at the Vaal Dam last week I received some interesting comments by e-mail from one of our readers. He commented as follows:
"Ian Wolmarans was the youngest competitor at 19 whilst the next youngest were Jimmy Melville at 43 and Ken Reynolds at 44. The rest of the fleet are much older prompting the question of where the next generation of Finn Sailors are to come from. The age of the boats in the fleet is also of concern with the newest boats probably some 15 years old."
Those are two very valid questions indeed. The Finn class has over the years been one of the stronger classes in South Africa. In fact it has a rich history with sailors such as Ernie Shaw and Bruce McCurrach having been very competitive internationally in their younger days while more recently Ian Ainslie was very competitive internationally for a decade or so.
Despite this the class has not prospered locally although it does have a very loyal, if slightly small, following. The class remains an international one, and while a state of the art boat won't come cheap, it certainly isn't in the league of something like a 505 when it comes to cost. In the last 15 or so years though there have been some huge developments in the class with the rigs in particular evolving at a rapid rate. Masts are now made of carbon, with some resembling wing masts, while sails are made of an amazing array of clothes of various weights and of course having a sail to match the mast is just vital. So for one thing the local boats are not only old but also basically obsolete, despite a reasonably number of carbon masts and modern sails floating around.
Size is also an important consideration and perhaps we have just been turning out smaller sailors of late!
Whatever the case it's an alarming trend and perhaps something that Smooth Sailing readers might have some thoughts on.
E-mail any comments you have to me at andrew@smoothsailing.co.za.
Andrew Heathcote
